Padraig takes rough with the smooth

IT was the last question at the end of a series of four long interviews. It can't have been easy to sit there and be interrogated as to just why you did this and did that or why you hit shots that cost you the Open Championship.

Some golfers can do it. Tiger Woods proved his facility to take the rough with the smooth at the weekend and come out smiling and fighting. Colin Montgomerie, surprise, surprise, went down the other route. And not for the first time by any means, Padraig Harrington demonstrated he can accept the slings and arrows of misfortune with equanimity as he faced his inquisitors without flinching.

For the second time in two weeks, the consensus was that he had blown it. The media felt it was their duty to find out why. Harrington wasn't having any of it. With that whimsical way of his, he beat them all off, left with a smile on his face and joined his wife Caroline for a quiet meal before setting off yesterday for Holland and the Dutch Open starting on Thursday. If he was hurting, it didn't show.

He was nothing if not positive and with a degree of reason. His share of fifth place has seen him move up from 10th to a career best eighth in the latest world rankings announced yesterday. It will be argued, of course, that it could have been even better. Although champion Ernie Els remains third behind Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, the three play-off losers have benefited hugely from their weekend exertions. Steve Elkington was bumped 69 places to 46th, Thomas Levet by 66 to 64th and Stuart Appleby by 27 to 36.

Harrington kept blaming his putting as the reason for his not winning the Open and those of us who followed him at close range believe this to be the case far more than the bunkered drive at the last. So, too, do the statistics. Harrington was first in greens in regulation but a disastrous 74th in the putting category. Had his putter worked in a superb tee to green performance through the opening 17 holes on Sunday, then there would have been no need for him to even consider a driver off the 18th tee, he would have been so far ahead.

He maintained that he wasn't unduly disappointed at missing out on a gilt-edged chance of his first major, so much so that I eventually asked: "Padraig, why aren't you disappointed, surely you should be after getting so close?"

He thought about it briefly, looked me straight in the eye and replied: "Because I have the answers. You only get disappointed when you don't have the answers, when you walk off the golf course and you despair at what happened."

Sound reasoning, of course, and those who have criticised his choice of club at the 18th may have overlooked the fact that Ernie Els was playing several holes behind Harrington and was eight under par with the long 17th still to come when the Irishman made his fateful decision.

At that point, he reckoned he was as good as two behind and that he should go for it. He needed to get his second shot really close.

"I was hitting the ball so well that I had every confidence in hitting a drive long enough that I would be playing something like an eight iron for my second," said Harrington.

"I just hit a bad shot. Who could have imagined a player of Ernie's quality finishing the last four holes in one over. In spite of my bogey at the last, I was one under for that stretch.

"I am not going to blame one errant drive. It's not a particularly difficult driving hole and I felt very comfortable over the ball as I had done all day. No matter what people might say, it was the right decision then and even now that I know a four would have got me into the play-off, it remains the right decision.

"It would be silly to blame the way I hit the ball generally, it was my putting that let me down. I even changed from the two-ball putter to a blade putter after round one but it didn't help much."

IT is perfectly understandable that people should criticise Harrington's strategy not alone at Muirfield but a fortnight earlier at The K-Club when a six iron pulled into the lake cost him a Smurfit European Open play-off against Michael Campbell. If you were to take his words at face value, then you'd have to suspect he has a deep founded fear of play-offs. He went eagle chasing in the European and missed out; he went birdie hunting at Muirfield and missed out.

Nor will it be forgotten that Padraig took a double bogey six at the 18th in the third round of the Masters at a time when he was in the thick of the battle. And that he did likewise at the final hole of the US Open at Bethpage which cost him a top five finish.

It will be remembered how he shot 61 for the opening 18 holes of the World Match Play final at Wentworth last year and had Ian Woosnam on the rack only to throw it all away.

No matter what Harrington and his colleagues contend in these similar kind of disappointing situations, it's the reality of the situation and something they must tackle.

Padraig is a disciple of the American sports psychologist Dr Bob Rotella; several others, including the final two combatants on Sunday, Ernie Els and Thomas Levet, are clients of the Belgian mind expert Jos Vanstiphout. The vast majority of these players can put a spin on things for public consumption based on advice passed on to them by Bob, Jos and all the others trading in this mysterious science.

Privately, though, they will be looking into their own hearts and souls and trying to figure it all out. It's incredible, isn't it, how difficult top-class golfers find it to win these days. Remember Retief Goosen, Mark Brooks and Stewart Cink at last year's US Open, the torment Ernie Els went through before claiming victory on Sunday. Only Tiger Woods manages to make it look easy.

Padraig Harrington's traumas came in slightly lesser events until last Sunday evening when he missed out big time on the championship that means more than any other. Hopefully, it will be another learning curve on the way to the major he richly deserves through his consistency in claiming two top five finishes this year and another top 10. Equally, his words suggest that he has no intention of entering a state of depression in spite of these setbacks.

"I am very confident about my future prospects," he insists. "You need a full package to win a major and I just didn't have the putting this week. I felt comfortable out there and that's the main thing. To be honest, I don't think I need anything else. I'm quite happy, not just with this year, because I've been improving in the majors for a while. I've been a bit more in the limelight this year and I'm happy with the way my career is progressing."

Darren Clarke has slipped to 17th in the world rankings and Paul McGinley is back in 57th spot.